tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17500930.post3652096481884537321..comments2024-03-20T22:57:03.923+00:00Comments on Dean Bubley's Disruptive Wireless: Is KPN about to hit the Net Neutrality "suicide button" in the Netherlands?Dean Bubleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05719150957239368264noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17500930.post-52302011748260621202011-05-17T16:50:53.779+01:002011-05-17T16:50:53.779+01:00Financial problems?
Here in Finland the mobile da...Financial problems?<br /><br />Here in Finland the mobile data consumption per capita was above 700 MByte/month in H2 2010. About ten times higher than in the Netherlands.<br /><br />There are three "happy pipe" mobile players here with very nice EBITDA margins and CAPEX to sales. <br /><br />The norm over here is unlimited volume with speed tiers.<br /><br />The dongle pop penetration is above 34%. MBB connections (excluding smartphones) overtook fixed bb.<br /><br />Speed (max bitrate) is becoming a better and better proxy for network costs as video traffic prevails. Monthly volume is becoming worse and worse proxy as video makes traffic concentrate more and more on the "prime time". In addition, speed is a much more customer friendly monetization dimension than volume caps, throttling or overages.<br /><br />Markets like the Netherlands really need some fresh mobile data challengers like Yota in Russia or Three in the UK.Palhttp://rewheel.finoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17500930.post-83297867758484965212011-05-05T09:44:36.146+01:002011-05-05T09:44:36.146+01:00Dean,
>What's your evidence for "seri...Dean,<br /><br />>What's your evidence for "serious >financial problems with mobile >broadband", anyway? Some (eg 3UK) >still seem perfectly happy even >with flatrate uncapped pricing.<br /><br />Well, at least KPN may be an example. Slide 19 of the same slideset you referenced to in your post says "Revenues and other income down 3.1% y-on-y" also because (not only) "lower wireless service revenues from changing customer behaviour".<br /><br />Some operators have been perhaps too much aggressive in their MBB offers and they will probably reposition their offers by bundling together different services.<br /><br />I like the idea that regulators can define what is "Internet access", "limited access" and so on. It would make it much easier for consumers to look into the labyrinth of subscriptions offers.Davidenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17500930.post-53711803308027474442011-05-05T07:54:49.800+01:002011-05-05T07:54:49.800+01:00Davide
For example, it looks like MetroPCS follow...Davide<br /><br />For example, it looks like MetroPCS follows the branding concept - offering "LTE access" or "data access" but not explicitly saying "full Internet access" for several tiers of service<br /><br />http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/MetroPCS-Drops-LTE-Intro-Plan-To-40-112063<br /><br />Fair enough, as long as there's enough competition around. Personally, I'd opt for the full Internet option, probably from a different operator. You might be happy with a limited offer.<br /><br />There *might* however be a government mandate for Universal Service for at least some level of Internet Access, in much the same way as PSTN today. That will likely be country-specific and also depend on price/availability of fixed broadband Internet access.Dean Bubleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05719150957239368264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17500930.post-26339979908889485792011-05-05T07:28:50.485+01:002011-05-05T07:28:50.485+01:00Fazal - thanks for your comment
Davide - There ar...Fazal - thanks for your comment<br /><br />Davide - There are plenty of defensive positions. Some will work, some won't.<br /><br />What's your evidence for "serious financial problems with mobile broadband", anyway? Some (eg 3UK) still seem perfectly happy even with flatrate uncapped pricing.<br /><br />If you mean "they've mispriced it" then that's a problem of their own creation. In my view, that's certainly been the case for many operators. <br /><br />They have also lacked the ability to make even basic predictions about possible usage scenarios - I remember presenting at conferences in 2005-6 talking about the future combination of smartphones and HSPA. I remember one senior radio planner telling me that he assumed data growth would stay below 10% per year.<br /><br />In terms of "what can regulators do?", there's a few options.<br /><br />The easiest one in my view is to define "Internet access" as a specific named & defined product. An operator should only market & sell "Internet access" if it is neutral & meets specified criteria. It should also be able to sell "Other access" or "Limited access" if it wishes.<br /><br />The second thing the regulator could do is make it easier / cheaper to deploy networks - eg by encouraging more RAN-sharing, relaxing planning restrictions on new cells, allowing national roaming etc.<br /><br />The third option is to create a national LTE wholesale network as an overlay - similar to Yota in Russia.<br /><br />DeanDean Bubleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05719150957239368264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17500930.post-55440560714583333222011-05-05T07:02:50.742+01:002011-05-05T07:02:50.742+01:00A lot of people attacking operators for trying to ...A lot of people attacking operators for trying to defend their positions. It may be true operators need to add value and innovate services, but they are experiencing serious financial problems with mobile broadband.<br /><br />If regulators eventually decide to avoid such policies, there is also another alternative operators have: stop investing in MBB (if it is not profitable).<br /><br />What regulators would do then?Davidenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17500930.post-32795138892944757972011-05-05T04:07:06.402+01:002011-05-05T04:07:06.402+01:00I am not surprised. KPN is one of the worst telcos...I am not surprised. KPN is one of the worst telcos in Europe. I remember when I managed tech ops at an ISP in Amsterdam, they could not provide SS7 interconnect capacity in any reasonable time frame (less than a year) at a majority of their exchanges, and they once cheerfully informed me I would experience 3 months' interruption of service on my $100K/month transatlanctic STM1 circuit.Fazal Majidhttp://www.majid.info/noreply@blogger.com